


Childhood

by Emilx311



Series: Founders Drabbles [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Brother Feels, Childhood, Don't copy to another site, Drabble, Founders week 2019, Gen, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 12:15:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19992040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emilx311/pseuds/Emilx311
Summary: The childhoods of the Senju brothers.





	Childhood

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Founders week day 5: Childhood.

Tobirama had not had a childhood. The closest he’d come was his infancy, when he’d been unable to hold a weapon and too young to absorb his father’s teaching. As soon as he’d grown enough to start training his father had given him weapons and dragged him out to the training yard with his elder brother. He had taken to the training better than his brother ever had, had become his father’s pride and had ended any chance he may have had of a childhood then. Tobirama was not too upset about this. Taking his father’s focus had allowed his brother(s) to escape it in turn. It had allowed Hashirama the chance of a childhood he’d never had. He did not regret that; his brother was the dreamer and he the realist. It was better that Hashirama had the chance to grow and play while he focused on learning and improving. It had allowed him the chance to let his Itama and Kawarama slack off slightly. Had allowed him to distract their father from stopping their play and forcing them into training as early as he had been. Had kept them off the battle field for a couple extra years, years where they could enjoy just being. Years he had never had the luxury of.

Hashirama’s childhood had begun and ended on that river. It was where dreams had bloomed, and eventually where ambition and goals had taken the place of them. It was where he made and lost his first true friend. It was the only place he’d been allowed to act his age, the only place where he did not have to be the Senju heir or a soldier. Where he could be a boy who missed his brothers and liked skipping stones. Where he did not have his father watching and criticizing his every move, comparing him to Tobirama who always seemed to master moves quicker. He did not realize until years later that Tobirama had sacrificed his childhood to allow Hashirama his. Did not see, except with hindsight, how hard Tobirama had worked so that he and Kawarama and Itama could have the chance to play. Was too focused on the part Tobirama had played in ending it to see that it was only because of his brother that he had it in the first place. Hashirama’s childhood was short, but at least he had one.

Itama and Kawarama should have still been enjoying their childhood when they died. Instead they were soldiers, and many assumed because of this that they did not have one. They were wrong. They had had a childhood, a longer one than many even. Tobirama had made sure of that. Had helped them sneak off, had disguised games and laughter as training so their father would look the other way. Had distracted their father from their mistakes with questions and theories until his focus was only on the elder and his younger sons forgotten. Tobirama had snuck them toys that were not weapons, had taken them to festivals on missions, and had weaved stories for them. He had given them all of the childhood he could, even though he had never been able to have one himself. It may not have been long, but they knew that it was a privilege to have one at all in these times, a privilege they always knew they owed to their brother.

**Author's Note:**

> My [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/emilx311)


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